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New drug-capture device can soak up chemotherapy drugs to limit toxicity

Doctors have a powerful arsenal of cancer-fighting chemotherapy drugs to choose from, though a key challenge is to better target these drugs to kill tumors while limiting their potentially harmful side effects.

8 Jun 2016

Tarantula venom could help provide relief for patients suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Researchers from The University of Adelaide in South Australia found that a specific peptide in the spider venom could be used to understand how people sense pain.

7 Jun 2016

Additional drug treatment options to prevent migraine may offer hope to sufferers

Preventing or shortening the duration of migraine attacks - established drug treatment options and those that could shape future therapies were discussed at the Congress of European Academy of Neurology in Copenhagen.

1 Jun 2016

Researchers shed more light on how brain rhythms organize memories across time

Just as members of an orchestra need a conductor to stay on tempo, neurons in the brain need well-timed waves of activity to organize memories across time. In the hippocampus--the brain's memory center--temporal ordering of the neural code is important for building a mental map of where you've been, where you are, and where you are going.

31 May 2016

TSRI scientists discover new method for harnessing venoms for therapeutic use

There are lessons to be learned from venoms. Scorpions, snakes, snails, frogs and other creatures are thought to produce tens or even hundreds of millions of distinct venoms. These venoms have been honed to strike specific targets in the body.

26 May 2016

Researchers partially restore lost function of isolated cystic fibrosis lung cells

In experiments with isolated cystic fibrosis lung cells, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers and colleagues from two other institutions have partially restored the lost function of those cells.

26 May 2016

Ipsen partners with IMCB to advance understanding and research of Botulinum Neurotoxin Biology

Ipsen S.A., a global specialty-driven pharmaceutical company, and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), a research institute under the aegis of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, today announced the signature of a research partnership to study the intracellular trafficking of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) within neurons.

16 May 2016

Researchers develop computer model to reveal how antibiotic-resistant microbes develop and spread

Researchers from the Scientific Research Institute of Physical-Chemical Medicine, MIPT, the company M&S Decisions and the research department of Yandex have built a computer model of the interaction between different bacteria, and between bacteria and the gut wall.

5 May 2016

Scientists find that disruption to SCN rhythms can negatively impact overall health

Researchers have shown for the first time how neurons in the SCN are connected to each other, shedding light on this vital area of the brain. Understanding this structure — and how it responds to disruption — is important for tackling illnesses like diabetes and posttraumatic stress disorder. The scientists have also found that disruption to these rhythms such as shifts in work schedules or blue light exposure at night can negatively impact overall health.

4 May 2016

Modified surgical technique may be effective treatment option for chronic temporal headache

A modified surgical technique may provide a simpler approach to the surgical treatment for one type of chronic headache, according to an "Ideas and Innovations" paper in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

30 Apr 2016

Updated guidance on botulinum toxin formulations for four indications

The American Academy of Neurology has issued an update to its 2008 guidelines on the use of botulinum toxin for the treatment of spasticity, cervical dystonia, blepharospasm and migraine headache.

27 Apr 2016

Macrophages play key role in quick tissue repair

While scientists have known for many years that there are cells living in the cavities surrounding various organs such as the heart, lung and liver, their function has remained unknown. A recent Cumming School of Medicine study examined these cells, and discovered they play an integral role in fast tissue repair. The study was published in the journal Cell this month.

22 Apr 2016

Proteins can be used as targets to deliver drugs into stressed cancer cells

Targeted missiles that can enter cancer cells and deliver lethal cell toxins without harming surrounding healthy tissue. This has been a long-standing vision in cancer research, but it has proved difficult to accomplish. A research group at Lund University in Sweden has now taken some crucial steps in this direction.

20 Apr 2016

Researchers focus on novel target to treat bacterial infection

Bacterial infection takes hold in the body when a pathogenic microorganism delivers toxins to healthy cells. One way bacteria accomplish this is by releasing vesicles, which act as tiny envelopes transporting toxins and other virulence factors to host cells. These toxins allow the bacteria to "make themselves at home" in cells.

19 Apr 2016

AAN’s updated guideline on botulinum toxin use covers four neurologic disorders

The American Academy of Neurology has updated its 2008 guidelines on the use of botulinum toxin for spasticity, cervical dystonia, blepharospasm and migraine headache, based on recent research.

19 Apr 2016

Scientists use FAN1 knockout mice to refine detailed mechanisms involved in damaged DNA repair

Like jewels in a vault, our precious genetic material is stored in the nucleus of a cell--sequestered away from potentially damaging cellular components and toxins so that no harm can come to it. Yet over the course of a life moving through this world, our DNA does get damaged, and our cells have a host of complicated repair mechanisms to deal with such injuries.

13 Apr 2016

New study demonstrates diversity, resourcefulness of Vibrio cholera

In humans, cholera is among the world's most deadly diseases, killing as many as 140,000 persons a year, according to World Health Organization statistics. But in aquatic environments far away from humans, the same bacterium attacks neighboring microbes with a toxic spear - and often steals DNA from other microorganisms to expand its own capabilities.

7 Apr 2016

Fecal transplants transfer bacterial viruses that appear to be harmless to humans

Communities of viruses can be transferred during fecal transplants, according to a study published this week in mBio, an online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Fortunately for patients who use this procedure, the viruses found to be transmitted in this study appear to be harmless to humans.

30 Mar 2016

Changing one atom in InsP6 inhibitor can increase its ability to neutralize toxins in the gut

Infections with bacterium Clostridium difficile have rapidly become a significant medical problem in hospitals and long-term care facilities. The bacteria cause diarrhea and life-threatening inflammation of the colon by producing toxins that kill the endothelial cells that form the lining of the gut.

26 Mar 2016

Could environmental toxins trigger amyloid plaques in the brain? An interview with Dr Paul Alan Cox

Many Chamorro villagers on the island of Guam perished from a puzzling paralytic disease that combines aspects of ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease.

From Huron Technologies 14 Mar 2016